Drawer-type carton



sept- 10, 1968 KATsUJl SHIMADA ET AL 3,400,874

DRAWER-TYPE CARTON Filed Feb. '7, 1966 United States Patent O 3,400,874DRAWER-TYPE CARTON Katsuji Shmada, 31 Uchide Midorigaoka-cho,Ashiya-shi,

Japan, and Katsuyuki Shimada, -9 Mitsuya Minamidori, Higashi,Yodogawa-ku, Osaka-shi, Japan Filed Feb. 7, 1966, Ser. No. 525,405Claims priority, application Japan, Dec. 4, 1965, l0/98,910 2 Claims.(Cl. 229-11) ABSTRACT 0F THE DISCLOSURE The present invention concerns adrawer-type carton containing me'ans for automatically opening the lid.Said means are characterized in that a Hap is provided at the upper edgeof a back wall of the inner case o'f the carton and a 'hook portion,bent back outwardly and upwardly and having elastic properties, isprovided on the back of said flap. An extension bent inwardly and alsohaving elastic properties, is provided at the upper edge of the backwall of the outer case. When the inner case is pushed upward, the hookportion of the ap of the inner case interlocks with the extension of theouter case by the action of their mutual traction, and the upper edge ofthe inner case is opened and bent backward.

This invention relates to a drawer-type carton provided with a means:for automatically opening and bending backward an upper edge of aninner case and also provided with means .for preventing the inner easefrom slipping out of either an open top or an open -bottom of an outercase of rectilinear form.

It is an important object of the present invention to provide a veryinteresting carton wherein the upper part of its inner case can beautomatically opened and bent backward when the bottom of the inner caseis pushed up against the outer case. Another object of the presentinvention is to provide a carton wherein its inner case will not go upfar enough to slip out of the top of its outer case when the bottom tofits inner case is pushed up.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a cartonwherein its inner case will not go down far enough to slip out of thebottom of its outer case when the ceiling of its inner case is pusheddown to close the lid.

Still a further object of the present invention is to provide a cartonwherein neither said automatic opening means nor its operations aredetectable from outside and thereby people will be very much interestedin it.

So far various kinds of simple drawer-type cartons have been devised forholding cigarettes, candies, and other articles. But all of theconventional cartons require two separate operations. That is to say, toopen the inner case and remove its contents, it is necessary to push theinner case out of the outer case, and also to push and open a bendablelid at an upper edge of the inner case by a nger or fingers. A smokercannot take a cigarette out of this conventional carton easily andquickly when he wants to take a short rest when he is Very busy. Whenthis c-onventional carton is used for a candy box, a child will find itvery cumbersome to perform two separate operations when he wants to takecandies out of it. In addition to these disadvantages, there are stillother disadvantages in the conventional carton. It will injure theappearance of the carton and will deaden interest in it when a means forclosing its lid is seen from outside while the lid is being closed. Whatis more, its inner case is apt to slip upwardly out of the top of itsouter case when its inner case is pushed up too far, and also 3,400,874Patented Sept. 10, 1968 ice its inner case is apt to slip downwardly outof the bottom of its outer case when its inner case is pushed down too`far.

The carton of the present invention has none of these disadvantages.With the simple means provided in this carton, only one simple operationof pushing up the bottom of its inner case is -required to automaticallyopen its lid and bend it backward in a smart, comfortable manner, nofurther complicated operations are required. As the means for openingits lid is not detectable from outside when it is closed, the carton isa very interesting one. Further, its inner case Will not slipunexpectedly out of either the top or the bottom of its outer case andwill be able to stop completely after a suitable sliding.

As a drawer-type carton, therefore, the carton of the present inventionis perfect in all respects and has a remarkable effect.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown in theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a rear perspective view of an inner case of the presentinvention when it is closed within an outer case.

FIGURE 2 is a sectional View of an inner case of the present inventioncut along the line A-A of FIGURE l when the inner case is closed withinan outer case.

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged sectional view of a dropresisting device in theinner case.

Referring now to the drawings, an outer case 1 iS formed having a smallvertical dimension 'and a rectangular form, with its top and bottomopen.

An extension 4 folded over along an upper edge 3 of a back wall 2 of anouter case 1 extends inwardly, said extension having an elasticity atits fold. Only a `back wall 10 of an inner case 5 connects a main part 8to a lid 9 at a fold line 11 bendable backward, the back wall being acontinuous w'all from the main part 8 to the lid 9. The rest of the mainpart 8 and that of the lid 9 are separated at 16. Behind a lids backwall 12 is provided a ap 13 whose top `starts at the top of said lidsback Wall 12 and is spaced from it and hangs downwardly. A slit a ismade in a downward tongue or flap shape in the flap 13 land the cutportion is bent back upwardly to form a hook portion b. A slit d is madein an upward tongue shaped form on :a back wall 10 of the inner case 5,and the cut portion is bent upwardly and outwardly to for-m a stoppingand holding piece c. A lower edge e of the ilap 13 is always placedbetween the stopping and holding piece c and the back Wall 10 in such amanner as to prevent the flap 13 from going down too far. Adrop-resisting piece f is provided at both ends of the top of the innerc'ase S, said piece f protruding slightly from said both ends.

Now We are going to describe how to use the carton of the presentinvention. A really simple action of pushing up the `bottom of the innercase S in the direction of the arrow indicated in FIGURE 2 will raisethe inner case 5, together `with the ilap 13, until the hook portion b,bending outwardly from the ilap 13, automatically interlocks with theelastic extension 4 of the outer case 1. After this occurs, only the ap13 is restrained from going up. When the inner case is made to go upfurther, the lid 9 of the inner case 5 under the control of the ap 13which is now restrained from going up will bend backward from the foldline 11, and the slit 16, which is to be separated from the side walls,will so open that the lid 9 will automatically open and bend backward.As this carton can be easily opened by 'a simple action of pushing upthe bottom of its inner case, it has an advantage of being comfortablysmart, and so it is suitable to the tast of modern people. Both the fitb of the inner case 5 and the extension 4 of the outer case 1 are pieceswhich are bent back and which have elastic properties. When the tit b ofthe inner case 5 interlocks automatically with the extension 4 of theouter case 1, thereiore, there will 'be practically no possibility ofmaking such mistakes as are commonly found in a device of theconventional `carton wherein the extension is made to be inserted into ahole in the inner c'ase. In closing the carton, it is just enough topush down the lid 9 of the inner case 5 in the opposite direction, andthe interlocking between the extension 4 and the hook portion b will bereleased. The iiap 13 will lie between the back wall 2 of the outer case1 and the back wall 10 of the inner case 5, touching both of them in theparallel direction, 'and the extension 4 will lie between the back wall2 and the ap 13, touching both `of them in the parallel direction.Therefore, this kind of trick cannot be seen from outside, and so thecarton of the present invention will provide a -very interesting one,

As a lower edge e of the ap 13 lies always between the back wall 10 ofthe inner case 5 and 'a stopping and holding piece c, the lower edge eof the ap 13 -will be stopped and constrained to go down by means of thestopping and holding piece c when the inner case 5 is pushed up to openthe lid 9 of the carton of the present invention. Thus this device willprevent the inner case 5 from going up beyond a certain distance, and soit will completely prevent the inner case 5 from going up so far as toslip out of the top of the outer case 1. In preventing the inner case 5from slipping out of the outer case 1, we do not insert the lower edge eof the ap 13 between the stopping and holding piece c and the back wall10 of the inner case 5 Iafter the inner case 5 starts moving, becausethe lower edge e of the -flap 13 is always lying between the stoppingand holding piece c and the back wall 10 of the inner case 5. Thus thecarton of the present invention has an advantage that no mistake ofinsertion can be made and that its operation can be accomplishedaccurately and completely. What is more, when the lid is closed, adrop-resisting piece f 'always makes a close contact with the upper edgeg of the outer case 1 and prevents the inner case 5 from dropping anyfurther, and securely holds the inner case 5 from dropping out of theouter case 1. Thus the carton may be said to be a really perfect one in'all respects.

What we claim is:

1. A carton having an automatically opening cover, said cartoncomprising an outer sleeve-like casing having an unapertured back wallwhich extends the ull length of the outer casing, an extension havingresiliently attached to the edge of the back wall at the upper edgethereof 'and bent downwardly along the inside surface of the back wall,an inner casing slidable within said outer casing and having a coverconstituted by a top panel, and at least a cover re'ar panel and coverside panels depending therefrom, the cover rear panel being hinged tothe upper edge o'f the back wall of the inner casing, and a flaphingedly secured to the cover and extending downwardly between the b'ackwalls of the inner and outer casings and having an upwardly extendinghook portion projecting therefrom engagea'ble with said extension of theouter casing causing the cover on the inner case to be opened and bentbackward when the inner casing is urged upwardly and means `for preventing the inner case from slipping out of the upper end of the outercasing comprising a stopping and holding piece which is bent loutwardlyand upwardly from the back wall of the inner casing and engageable withlower edge of the ilap depending lfrom the cover when s'aid inner casingis urged upward to the point where the cover is opened and bentbackwards.

2. A carton as claimed in claim 1, further comprising means forpreventing the inner casing from slipping out of the lower end of theouter casing of the carton and comprising extensions on the ends of thecover top panel projecting slightly outwardly from both ends of thecover top panel and engageable with the top edge of the outer casing.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 439,993 11/1890 Bailey 229-20621,173 3/1899 Stinton 229-11 1,639,166 8/1927 Burton 229--11 1,962,4686/ 1934 Stein 229-20 2,597,810 5/1952 Myers 229-19 2,919,845 1/ 1960Hackmyer.

DAVIS T. MOORHEAD, Primary Examiner.

